“This new soil geochemical survey has identified a number of areas that require drill testing for the first time or which specifically require resource drilling.

“Some of these areas are known to contain mineralised jasperoid and are dotted with old antimony workings.”

The newly discovered areas are expected to host high-grade gold and silver mineralisation.

"Some of these areas are known to contain mineralised jasperoid and are dotted with old antimony workings."

Ariana indicated that recent work has demonstrated the potential to better characterise the current resource.

Work is expected to result in the reduction in drilling required to convert inferred resources to indicated resources, which in turn enables the company to accelerate its internal feasibility study on Tavsan during this year.

A portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) soil sampling programme was completed to better define and characterise targets for the second phase of resource development.

In addition, the company stated that it has been working on better characterising the current resource based on a thorough geostatistical assessment.

The corresponding work has determined that lateral continuity exists across the orebody and that the current resource can be upgraded to the indicated category with minimal additional confirmatory drilling.

Ariana owns 50% interest in the Tavsan gold project, which is part of the Red Rabbit joint venture with Proccea Construction.